


New Interns

by The_Cards_Youre_Delta



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: (most likely), Crossover, Humor, Kinda AU, M/M, Slow Burn, mostly canon compliant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-05-25 03:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6178447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Cards_Youre_Delta/pseuds/The_Cards_Youre_Delta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos decides to take up a new intern at the lab as Cecil after, yet again, losing another intern, finally finds one who mysteriously manages not to die or get stuck in a desert otherworld.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Day at the Station

"We are nothing if not absurd, we are nothing. We are everything." The man in the booth starts, "Welcome to Night Vale."  
He gestured airily at the intern outside as a cue to start the intro music, it was the intern's first day. He quickly flicked the switch, panic in his mind screaming that he had started the music too early and too late at the same time. 

He looked back up into the recording booth where Cecil, the voice of Night Vale community radio, smiled reassuringly and gave him the thumbs up. It was as if he had sensed Nico's first-day-jitters. Nico wondered why he way being so friendly, he recalled the few convorsations he had had with Cecil before, talking about Cecil's old days as an intern at this very station. Nico, based on what Cecil had said before, reasoned that he either wanted to keep an intern for once, or he saw Nico as a version of himself from the past, but different somehow, and he wanted to mentor him as Leonard Burton had done for him in his youth. Either way, he seemed determined to make Nico's first week at the station a good impression on behalf of all of Night Vale.

The music faded out and Cecil swiveled away from the window to face the microphone, starting the day's reports, which were jumbled among the colorful clutter of Cecil's desk: knickknacks, pictures in frames, half finished origami, completely finished mugs of coffee, an old reports and press notices from other broadcasts that he never seemed to accidentally mix up with the new ones; It wasn't just another one of those Night Vale mysteries that just didn't seem worth investigating,it was left alone, and soon it simply was.

"Listeners, I regret to inform you that intern Rob... passed away in the line of intern duties. He will be missed... well, actually, not really because we only hired him like, a week before that whole thing happened with the man in the tan jacket, and he was lost. To the friends and family of intern Rob: Our condolences, he was a good intern, for all that we know. Again, it was only a week that I knew him so i'm not the expert here." 

Nico winced inwardly, but at the same time just felt like laughing. He had only been here for three days and this town was just getting more and more insane! How could radio interns possibly die so frequently that people just stopped being surprised when they got killed! 'Whatever...' He thought to himself. 'I survived tartarus, i'll survive this...' He wished he could take that back as soon as he thought it, It's best not to tempt fate, not even inwardly, he chided himself. But, somehow, he felt this place operated on different rules, perhaps it was a different plane of existence; the mist felt wild here, less organized, more powerful. He couldn't help but feel intrigued.

He looked up from his thoughts upon hearing his name mentioned. Cecil's cheerful voice like a warm knife cutting through an ice-cream cake.

"Yes, all of these tragedies are terrible and we will mourn any intern that is lost in the peril of community radio broadcasting. But, there is, as always a silver lining to these things! We have found a replacement for intern Rob, and he is wonderful! His name is Nico, and while this is his first day at the station, we at the station have all already taken a liking to him. He is half-god his father being Hades,god of death,and from out of town," Cecil beamed. Nico let out a chuckle at how 'half-god' and 'from out of town' were spoken as if they were equally strange.

Cecil spoke on, "let me tell you, listeners: it is so nice to have an intern that is also necromancer, after intern Brad um... left the station, I never thought we would ever have another intern as skilled at raising and communicating with the dead ever again. But boy was I wrong! Nico has also been our fist half-god intern, so maybe he can handle the...um... responsibility, of our more difficult and challenging reporting assignments. On behalf of all of Night Vale, welcome to our humble little town, Nico."

Nico felt warmth blossom in his chest, a feeling he hadn't felt for a long time: a feeling of acceptance, a feeling of home.  
'Thank You' he mouthed at Cecil from behind the glass, and he smiled, and Cecil smiled back. Heartwarming moment or no, a radio station was no place to be having life changing revelations- not now, at least. Work was to be done. They both seemed to realize this and Cecil continued his broadcast as Nico began to recheck his to-do list for the day. Nico began to move about the building, going about his work, but he kept the radio turned on as he went about the pile of paperwork he had been assigned, listening to Cecil's voice along with the rest of Night Vale.

"Listeners, speaking of interns and those not native to our beautiful little dessert community, Carlos the Scientist- also known as Carlos, my boyfriend Carlos, the scientist, who is also my boyfriend, just if you didn't know- has also taken a new intern. He was not looking for one, mind you, he said that one day he was just tinkering in his lab, and he heard a knock on the glass cafe-like door. When he looked up, there was his new intern, so he let him in and they just wordlessly began working on Carlos's latest inventions together. They still haven't spoken a word to each other, but apparently this new intern has quite the skill for engineering. Ah, how neat! It's just so nice to have finally found some great hardworking interns that don't, oh, I don't know... phase out of existence, or disappear into the sand wastes or desert otherworlds, or get lost forever in sporting goods stores, y'know? It's just really... neat."

Nico finished the paperwork-written as instructed, with vulture quills, and in squid ink. Which was surprisingly easily obtained in the station.- and he, remembering the instructions (given to him by Cecil, then repeated by the Shauns in sales, and then whispered by a sentient patch of haze, and lastly written in the foggy mirrors in the men's restroom,) tiptoed over down the dark hallway where station management's office was. The further he walked the heavier the darkness felt on his body and soul, the deaths of many flashing before his eyes like a sick flip book, but still, it was nothing compared to what he had seen in Tartarus. He soldiered on. He placed several small vole skulls into the bloodstone circle by the entrance, and then slipped the papers under the door. He felt the deep sense of dread envelop him completely as he waited for their answer.

There was great roaring-No, screaming...No, roaring. The sound was so loud that all Nico could do was cover his ears as his body, as if spasming, slammed back-first into the door and slowly sunk down onto his knees in the fetal position. Runes he didn't recognize swirled around behind his eyes, pressing like a hot branding iron into his mind as fleshy squelching sounds came from behind the door and deep green liquid seeped out from under the door, the ooze reaching across the floor. He switched his hands out for his shoulders to cover his ears and quickly scrawled down the runes using the emerald fluid as ink.

Suddenly, the voices stopped, the fluid disappeared, and the heavy dread vanished. Nico breathed relief and shakily stood up and left to go check in with Cecil. He noticed that the vole skulls he had left in the bloodstone circle had disappeared, he shuddered. He walked towards the break room a little faster.


	2. The Lab

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Leo became Carlos's first lab intern

Leo wandered down streets with his hands jammed down his pockets, head cast slightly downward against the desert winds. He wanted to see the new town he had rolled into, he had managed to repair Festus after crashing on Calypso's island but- well, he didn't want to think about her right now.  
She had gone with him, off of Ogygia, and the first place they landed (Some town in southern California or something) She had ditched, said things about how she needed to learn to live in the world, that she wanted to be independent, meet someone that hadn't been brought to her by her curse. Leo said he understood, he did. Of course he did. But it hurt, he hurt. So, he pointed Festus toward a horizon and rode, away, away from anything-no, everything. And he ended up here.  
"Night Vale" the signs read, well, actually they read "Abandon All Knowledge You Thought You Had And Regain All Fears You Thought You Had Conquered, Welcome to Night Vale" but, he elected to ignore the first part. He didn't try to approach citizens of the town, he didn't want to speak to anyone. He was in one of his brooding moods where all he wanted to do was tinker for hours uninterrupted- he had even shrunk Festus down to the "pocket size" feature he added a while back, just so he wouldn't have to hear the dragon's input.  
People didn't seem to take much notice in him, every so often someone would point or gesture to him and half-heartedly say "Interloper!" but, it didn't seem to have any venom in it.  
He ignored all creatures and beings he passed along the way, most of them were either passive or friendly anyway. He didn't know what he was looking for, but it felt like he was searching for something, given his current mood: somewhere quiet and full of mechanical parts. 'Not likely,' he thought to himself, walking along a strip mall and passing a place called "Big Rico's" 'Where would I even find a place like th-' He cut off his thoughts as a metallic gleam through a clear window caught his eye.  
"LAB" the neon sign in the window said, and below it there was a printed paper "Open/Closed" sign facing front on the "Open" side. Inside the clear storefront windows he could see lab benches, all filled with bubbling beakers and humming machines. Some of the machines were partially deconstructed- a work in progress? He tapped on the glass.There were a few people inside, all wearing lab coats and scribbling things in notebooks, on clipboards, or on the various chalk and white boards that were smattered throughout the place, they looked towards the sound. One of them motioned him inside.  
He felt something in him light up and he stepped into the business.

Many of the people in lab coat's eyes went to a man in the back, he was also wearing a lab coat and seemed to be deeply engrossed in whatever project he was working on, if he noticed everyone looking at him then he didn't show it. There seemed to be murmuring among the lab coat-wearers before one of them walked up to him.

"That's Carlos" She told him, motioning towards the man in the back. Leo didn't know what to say, and it must have been obvious because she continued without waiting for a reply, "If there's anyone here who can tell you anything, it's Carlos. He's pretty friendly, just gets caught up in projects a lot. Don't let that fool you: he'll be happy to see a new face, go on, talk to him" She gently pushed him towards the back where the man called Carlos was. He shrugged and obeyed her order.

When he reached the table the man still didn't look up, Leo could see now that he was working on a machine that ran on some sort of orange-ish oil, the fuel injector was busted. The guy was clearly trying his best, but he seemed like the sort who did better with chemistry than engineering, at least if his lab goggles used in place of welding goggles said anything.

Leo pulled some tools out of his tool belt and moving towards the machine, leaving his hand hovering above it as if asking permission. The man-Carlos, snapped his eye up from what he was doing. If he was surprised to see a stranger wander into his lab and instantly try to take on projects that even he couldn't fix, well, he didn't show it. He shrugged with both of his arms raised, the palms of his hands facing out and up. He let out a short chuckle as if to say, "Well, okay. I was about ready to give up anyway, not like I can do any better." and pushed it towards Leo.

Leo got to work on the machine. Carlos was right, it was tricky. The machine ran on a new, experimental form of biodiesel, and the concentration of evaporated fuel had to be just right or there could be an explosion. It was pretty cool, Leo loved these sort of puzzles, especially when explosives were involved. The lab table was really big, so he barely noticed when Carlos started tinkering with one of his other projects on the other side. Neither of them attempted to make conversation, they were both happily enveloped in their own steady thoughts: the kind of quiet buzzing thought you get when working on one project for hours on end. No one wanted to bother them while they were working so they didn't notice when the sun started lazily sinking lower in the sky, or when slowly the other scientists started going home.

With one last tightened bolt the machine gave a satisfying "Click" and whirred into function. Leo washed his hands off in the lab sink and walked over to Carlos.  
"Hey man, Where's that thing supposed to go." He asked, his signature grin back on his face with the satisfaction of fixing something.

"You-you got it to work? How?" Carlos gaped at the working machine, then at Leo, and then back. Then he seemed to let it go almost instantly. "Never mind, thanks so much. It goes on the end of that." He sighed, shaking his head with a resigned smile and pointed to a system of mechanisms and beakers and wires up against the wall. Leo nodded and took it to the end, he got a wrench out in case he would need to attach it using any bolts, but he found it just clicked on easily as if magnetized. Carlos seemed to be done with whatever he was working on and started to talk with Leo as they cleaned up their work stations.

"So I take it you're not from Night Vale?" Carlos started, already knowing the answer.

"Ha, no. Just sort of... ended up here I guess. What about you? You don't seem like the other people i've seen."

"Why, because I didn't scream 'Interloper!' when you walked in? No, I wasn't born in Night Vale, but it's become home. It's really an amazing, awful, beautiful place." His voice gained a sentimental tone as he spoke. "So what are you doing here?" He asked, shifting the subject. The question seemed weighted, but not in an aggressive way.

"I-" Leo began, "I really don't know, I just went inside here because I like to tinker when I'm stressed and I guess I was just lucky. I have no idea what i'm going to do next." He talked about this like he was saying he didn't know which shirt to wear, not like he was admitting that he had no clue what he was doing in life.

Carlos seemed to consider this for a moment as he dried off the beakers and test tubes in the sink. Finally he turned to face Leo, drying off his hands. "We could use someone who's good at engineering in the lab. We're not engineers, we're scientists. And a scientist is always open to new possibilities. You're too young to be a proper scientist, would you like to be a lab intern?"

Leo shrugged "Sure, that sounds good."

Carlos nodded, "Since you're not from Night Vale, we should probably find you some place to stay, in case librarians get out at night." He thought for a moment before concluding his statement "You could stay with Old Woman Josie and the Erikas. She always welcomes guests. I'll drive you." He looked around to check that the lab was in order, seeing that it was he nodded his satisfaction and went towards a supply closet. He disappeared for a second then returned holding something. It was a lab coat.

He held it out to Leo saying "Here, you'll need this" Leo smiled and put it on. It said 'Intern' across one of the breast pockets.

"Thanks," He said, then after thinking for a moment, "How'd you know to have an intern coat?"

"A Scientist is always prepared, that's the first thing a scientist is." Was his only answer. "C'mon, it's time to head out."

Leo nodded even though Carlos wasn't facing him and followed him out the door. They went out into the mostly empty parking lot and into Carlos's car. Leo sat shotgun and glanced toward the back while Carlos put a few things in the trunk, mostly plastic flamingos partially wrapped in tarp and various notes and charts he had taken during the day. The back was pretty clean, save for stacks of spiral notebooks, no doubt filled with notes from other experiments.

Carlos got into the driver's seat and turned on the engine, tuning the radio before driving. It was some sort of community broadcast. The host was talking about a new intern, intern-"Nico?" Leo asked out loud in surprise, no, they couldn't mean the same Nico, not the one he knew. Carlos looked at him, puzzled. "Pardon?"

"N-no, it's nothing, sorry I just thought the guy on the radio was talking about someone I knew." Leo excused quietly.

Carlos nodded, understanding. "Yeah, Cecil has that effect on people." He sounded warmer, happy about the person he was talking about.

"Oh, so you know him?"Leo was glad to change the subject, he was genuinely interested too, though.

"Yeah, I guess you could say everyone does, it's a small town and he's a well-known guy. But, I guess you could say I know him better than others." Leo was about to ask what he meant by that, but the radio seemed to answer his question for him

"Listeners, speaking of interns and those not native to our beautiful little dessert community, Carlos the Scientist- also known as Carlos, my boyfriend Carlos, the scientist, who is also my boyfriend, just if you didn't know- has also taken a new intern." Cecil spoke.

Carlos laughed a little, "He's always talking about he on air... it's so... Unprofessional." He said, but he made it sound like 'unprofessional' and 'cute' were synonymous.

"H-how did he know about me?" Leo asked, surprised. Carlos shrugged and kept his eyes on the road.

"Eh, I think it has to do with him being the radio host. Honestly, I don't really know. Night Vale is a weird place," He said, taking on a comforting tone. "I just realized I never asked your name," He mentioned.

"Oh, wow yeah. I figured the other people in the lab would have told you, since they told me your name, but they didn't ask me either. It's Leo."

"Leo" Carlos echoed. "Well alright then Leo, we'l-" He was cut off by the sound of his cell phone ringing. "Excuse me for a moment." He said, pulling over to the side of the road to answer the call.


	3. Carpooling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will flick back and forth between the PoV of Nico and Leo, Pov change is indicated by *****

Nico sighed and flopped into one of the break room chairs, his forearms on the table with his hands clasped, his head hunched downwards. He gathered his breath in attempt to slow his heart rate, letting out a shaky sigh and moving his hands up to rub his face.  
"Wow." A voice said, seemingly out of nowhere. "First day and they sent you to management? They must've stopped even trying to keep their puny human interns alive," It sounded female, with a strong Wisconsin accent.

Nico looked around the room, looking side to side first, then remembering how weird his life was and looking up. Nothing... Except, over there, the air was just a little different- in hue or density maybe, he couldn't tell which. Maybe it was one of those, what did they call them? Sentient patches of haze. Yeah, that's what they were called, Cecil said that one of them might come by,

"You must be Deb." He called out, unsure if his voice was too loud. He was trying to look Deb in the face. It was tricky to tell where their face was, or if they even had a face. He wanted to be polite.

"Of course I am, human child." Nico was a bit offended, but before he could think of something to say Deb spoke again, "Oh! Would'ja look at that! I'm on the air in two minutes. Time is so weird!" and whisked-no, floated? Drifted?... Left the room.

He looked at the clock. Wow, it's almost time to leave. He thought. Time is super weird. His gaze was still fixed on the clock when Cecil strolled into the room.

"Pondering the impossibility of time and our own fragile,improbable existence as it is mirrored back to us by the vast, hollow sky?" He said in his 'I'm like a cool uncle, look at how well I understand teenagers' voice. "I hear ya, buddy."

Nico grinned back at him and chuckled, shaking his head as if denying the craziness of his own life would make it go away.

"So how was management?"

"Eh It-They?-No, it. Was okay. Is it?- are they? Is management always like that?" Nico really wasn't sure if management was a collection of horrible beings or just one entity, and had trouble finding the right words.

"Like what?"

"Oh I don't know... The, horrific shrieking and overwhelming waves of despair?"

"Oh, that. Yeah that's pretty standard for management. Earlier one of the Seans in sales said that their aura-damaging has been pretty bad today, honestly I'm surprised you're still conscious. Most of the other interns we've had, even on management's good days, would faint immediately after or before finishing dropping paperwork off at management. Good job." He maintained his cheerful, conversational tone throughout his statement. Nico found it a strange mix of horrifying and endearing.

"Thanks, I try."

They chatted for a little while longer, Nico talking about demigod quests, Cecil talking about the past town election. It was strangely easy for the to relate, Nico growing up with the will of olympian gods and monsters controlling his entire life, and Cecil growing up with city council and the war on StrexCorp controlling his. Loosing all of your childhood memories was another thing they had in common. Then a thought occurred to Cecil.

"You're not from Night Vale, right?" 

"Nope."

"So where are you staying?"

"Eh, I mean I came here on accident but i'll probably shadow travel back and forth from the Underworld." 

Cecil considered this for a moment. "Oh, but shadow travel is so energy draining, dissolving into darkness then trying to rematerialize your very being all within a matter of seconds," -Nico decided not to ask how he even knew what shadow travel was, let alone what it felt like. "Why don't you just stay with my friend, Old Woman Josie. She loves visitors, and her house mysteriously adds rooms into itself to accommodate guests without changing the outward appearance of the building, so she'll definitely have room for you!"

"Uh guess mayb-" He started before Cecil cut him off.

"Great, I'll just call Carlos to tell him I'll be home a bit late after dropping you off!" And with that he strolled away, already dialing on his cellphone.

Nico sighed and shrugged to himself, it couldn't be that bad... Glancing up at the clock he saw that their workday was almost over. He gathered his stuff- really just his jacket, sword, and his backpack; then he waited for Cecil to finish his call. The door opened and Cecil walked in.

"Great news! We can carpool! Oh yeah and also-"

*****  
"It looks like you're going to have a roommate."

Leo was a little nervous. Even having spent the whole day in the safety of that lab... He had wandered Night Vale for a while and he knew that it was NOT the sort of place that you want a randomly-assigned roomie in.

He took a hesitant breath before turning and looking at the man beside him, realizing how dangerous a situation he was in. For Zeus's sake- he was in a strange town in the car of some dude he barely knew, getting driven out to the edge of civilization where he would be bunking with some undefined being- probably a monster if the past ten years of demigod life were any guide.

Then he sighed shaking his head, grinning he asked  
"So who's the lucky duck who gets to be my roomie?"

Carlos seemed to sense his apprehension and put on a light tone as he answered "oh, one of Cecil's new interns-that kid, Nico- Cecil seems to like him well enough."

Leo let out a breath in relief, it can't be the same Nico he knew, maybe it was just a common name in Night Vale.  
"Okay cool-cool. How old is he?"

"I didn't ask the specifics, but Cecil's interns are usually teenagers. Why?"

"Uh. I don't know, just curious about who I'll be living with, I guess." Leo sounded less confident than he meant to.

Carlos nodded, then put on a reassuring smile.  
"Yeah, it's tough when you first move to Night Vale. Don't worry, if you get scared I'll just make an excuse and you can go somewhere else, sound good?"

Leo nodded gratefully, not even mentioning once that the Super-Sized McShizzle didn't get scared.  
"Yeah"

"Great! Cause we're carpooling with them to Old Woman Josie's place, and there's them now!"

Leo snapped his head over to the approaching figures, kind of pissed that Carlos didn't tell them about the carpooling bit.

The taller of the two was clearly Cecil-the same person that was in the framed picture by Carlos's workbench. The other was-oh gods, it was Nico. The one he knew. The one they rescued from Tartarus. The one he may or may not have had an awkward mancrush on. Yeah, definitely just a bro crush, an admiration, not an adoration. Definitely not. And he for sure didn't think Nico was extremely attractive and had a cute butt. Not one bit. Nope.  
"H-hey Nico."  
He just nodded back.

"Oh! You two know each other; what a small world!"

They both opened their mouths to change the subject at the same time before Cecil kept talking.

"Well, we'll just have to catch up on the way there, Josie is one punctual lady!"

There was a collective sigh of relief as they all piled into Cecil's car, Cecil driving with Carlos in the seat next to him, Leo and Nico in the awkward silence in the back seat.


	4. Carpooling pt 2

"You're not dead." Nico said, eyes still fixed forward on the driver's side seat which was, apparently, more interesting than Leo.

"Y-Yeah. You too." He responded. Leo cringed slightly at his awkward reply. Cecil and Carlos didn't seem to take much notice of them, they were having a conversation of their own- something about Cecil going into the lab for a day, to do some watercolors of some of the machines and beakers and humming electrical equipment, to hang up in the lounge.

There was uncomfortable silence in the back for a moment, then Nico continued. "I'm glad. I-Everyone was worried about you. You should Iris Message them, Jason was worried sick." His voice had an under-toned scolding quality. Leo felt guilty, and a little bit flattered.

 _Don't be stupid,_ He chided himself. _He doesn't want you dead. That's all, it's not like you matter to him._

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. It's just, there weren't that many opportunities to find places to message you guys and... Some stuff happened... It's complicated." Trying to avoid his eyes,he looked out the window, they were passing some sort of used car dealership.  _We must be close, didn't they say she lived by a car lot or something? Gods, I hope so..._

Nico faced him for the first time, raising an eyebrow and scoffing. "And when are things ever not complicated, exactly, Valdez?"

Their eyes met. For the first time, past all the sarcasm and anger, Leo saw something deep down, something vulnerable.

"Nico I-" A loud screech and a jolt cut him off as the vehicle suddenly swerved right.

Leo-Do-It-For-The-Vine-Valdez, ever living the life of danger, wasn't wearing his seatbelt, and was hurled around the seats as the car swerved around. He bit his tounge when his head knocked into the driver's seat, and he hardly had time to recover as they started moving faster. There was yelling and the vehicle jerked side to side.

The tires skid, some still on yellow-cracked desert pavement, one veering off the road into red rock as the driver slammed on his breaks. Leo was rammed backward a bit, but he was running on panicked instincts and stayed down to avoid the danger.

"HOW DID IT GET OUT?" Carlos screeched and gripped his seat as they spun out of control. "YOU SAID THIS NEVER HAPPENS!"

Cecil just shook his head wildly and gaped. His knuckles white on the steering wheel. He murmered something, Leo couldn't tell what, but Carlos seemed to hear him.  
  
"WHAT?!" Carlos yelled back, seemingly astonished. Cecil shook his head. "I-I know, but it's our best bet. I'm gonna try and hit it." His words were heard this time, the skidding of tires stopped as the vehicle's spinning slowed almost to a stop. Cecil pointed it at something and slammed hard on the gas. Leo was jolted further backward, almost lying down in the back, his face was pressed against something in the speed.

There was a large thump and something rolled up the hood of the car after being hit. He heard some animal shriek and then it seemed to flee away as they all sat there, breathing heavily as they came down from the adrenaline. When he came to his senses, Leo rolled upward, away from what he was facing.

He was met with the flushed face of one very embarassed son of Hades.

"...You're in my lap." Came the eventual quiet statement .

"Y-Yeah, uh sorry about that, it was jus-"

"Leo."

"The crash sort of threw me and I-"

" **Leo."**

"I couldn't get up because-"

" **Leo!** " He finally stopped trying to explain himself. "Can you please get off of me now?"

"Oh-Of course! Sorry about that!"

He was mortified. Right now he envied Nico, because he had the power to literally make the earth erupt into a giant chasm and swallow him whole, and currently that sounded pretty great.

Fortunately, Carlos was there for a perfect distraction.

"You should congratulate yourselves, not many people survive used car salesmen, especially Night Vale outsiders."

Leo grinned despite himself, unsure if it was just lucky Carlos decided to talk at that moment or if he was trying to save Leo from his own embarrassment. Either way, he was grateful. He could easily work some of his charm here and make the situation great again.

"Heh. We get that sort of compliment a lot- ammirite, Nico?" He posted up for a high five.

Nico stared at him for a moment, then nodded once saying, "I suppose so," and turning to face the window. Leo let out a dramatic sigh internally .  _Just_ watch, He told himself, _we'll be besties in no time._ He highfived himself, letting one palm loudly slap against the other. "Self-five!" He laughed.

"So," He started, "How how did you end up here?"

Nico's passive face suddenly turned. His eyebrows scrunched together and his lips pouted slightly, frowning in a way that was  _just unfair really, how am I even going to pay attention with his face all-_

"I-I'm not exactly sure, I think it was a shadow traveling incident and I-" He sighed, his shoulders and chest rising and sinking with the air. He pivoted in his seat, letting his whole body face Leo now. "What about you, how'd you get here?"

_Oh my Gods a real conversation. Nico's trying to have a real conversation with me. Don't fuck this up, don't fuck this up don't-_

"Um. Honestly, I'm not really sure. After the whole thing at camp- well, anyway, I went to go get Calypso and stuff...we didn't work out. I kinda just wanted some time away before I went back but-"

"I'm sorry."

Leo was almost startled by Nico's reply. "N-no man. It's fine. I mean, on the island it really seemed-" He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of this dangerous train of thought "Most of her interest in me probably just the curse talking, as soon as we hit new land it was like I was a stranger. She needed to figure stuff out on her own, I guess. And who am I to stop her from being happy?"

Leo sat back up out of the slouch he didn't realize he had taken as Nico's cold hand squeezed his shoulder. He was surprised at the contact, but as he turned his head to look at Nico the hand retracted back into his lap, Nico avoiding eye contact after a rare moment of human connection.

"Yeah but... You must have really liked her to do all of that."

He forced a chuckle to lighten the mood. "Nah... I mean, I did like her at first- but the whole Calypso's curse thing works both ways. She's really not that great, and once we were off the island the magic and the chemistry all kinda wore off and we were just people. People with nothing in common."

Realizing that he had darkened the mood again he tried to make a quick save. "Hell, even YOU make more lively conversation than her, death boy!' He nudged Nico with his elbow, trying to get him to laugh at the awful joke. Any response he would have made was cut off by Cecil's cheery voice.

"We're here!"


End file.
